mixed vegetables with thyme / verdure miste al timo

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mixed vegetable with thyme
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO)

Our current Cook the Books Club selection is Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge¹. In post-war Paris, a woman is found murdered in the basement of the building where Paul and Julia Child live, and the murder weapon is a knife from Julia's kitchen. If this brief introduction sounds intriguing, you'll probably enjoy the book. I'm afraid I didn't find the novel believable.²

The narrator, a young woman named Tabitha, lives with her grandfather not far from the Childs and befriends Julia. He grows a variety of herbs (erbe aromatiche) in his greenhouse:

There were rows of planters in the dome-shaped room... filled with herbs like tarragon, chervil, rosemary, thyme, basil, and of course, catnip. (dragoncello, cerfoglio, rosmarino, timo, basilico, erba gatta)

Thyme is probably my favorite herb and I use it with abandon, most recently on the first summer vegetables that have made their appearance at the farmers' market.Usually, I strip the leaves, but sometimes I add the sprigs (rametti) whole, and remove the almost bare stems at the end, before serving. The tenderest ones blend with the vegetables and are undetectable when eating.

Last month, I spent a week in Los Osos, a town on the Central Coast of California, south of Morro Bay. The Monday farmers' market there is one of my favorite: small, but offering a rich variety of produce. Also, with respect to the markets in Northern California, it was ahead of time in terms of summer vegetables. As a result, while there I ate the first zucchini (zucchine) and tomatoes of the season and even some sweet peppers. I also found glorious bunches of carrots (carote).

bunches of carrots at the Los Osos farmers' market: irresistible

At the San Rafael farmers' market, I recently scored the first eggplant (melanzane) of the season and at the Arcata farmers market, I put in my bag a beautiful head of escarole (scarola): it a type of endive, slightly bitter, and delightfully so. I like to use the outer leaves (foglie esterne) cooked with other vegetables, as in the recipe below, while I add the inner, tenderer leaves to salads. Using carrots and escarole in the same dish creates a delicious bittersweet combination.

summer vegetables are here!
(placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO

The dish is easy to make and cooks fairly quickly. I finish it with some flavorful creamy white miso³ from a local producer. As is, the dish is vegan. You can enrich it with eggs, cheese or, to keep it vegan, nutritional yeast.

Print-friendly version of briciole's recipe for Mixed vegetables with thyme

Ingredients:

• 3 ounces / 85 grams (2) carrots
• 3 tablespoons / 45 ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 ounces / 112 grams red spring onion, diced small
• 1/4 teaspoon Harissa spice mix
• A handful of thyme sprigs
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 ounces / 113 grams eggplant (1 small)
• 2 tablespoons / 30 ml hot water
• 4 ounces / 113 grams escarole leaves
• 8 ounces /225 grams zucchini (Black Beauty, Costata Romanesco, Magda, etc.) 
• 1 tablespoon white miso or 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste

Scrub the carrots well and scrape the surface to remove a thin layer of skin, then grate them using the extra-coarse side of a hand grater.

Warm up the olive oil in a 10-inch/25-cm deep sauté pan.

Add the onion, lower the heat and stir, then after 1 minute, add the grated carrot and stir. After 2 minutes, sprinkle the harissa spice mix, add the thyme, and stir well. Cook on low heat for another 2 minutes, stirring often.

In the meantime, trim top and bottom of the eggplant, cut into 1/4-inch / 6 mm slices lengthwise, then cut each slice into small dice.

Add the minced garlic to the pan and stir. After 1 minute, add the diced eggplant and stir, then add the water and stir. Cover the pan and cook for 4 minutes, stirring a few times.

Wash and drain the escarole leaves, halve them lengthwise then slice them crosswise into 1-inch / 2.5 cm strips.

Add the escarole to the pan, stir well, cover and cook for 4 minutes.

In the meantime, trim the zucchini, then grate them using the extra-coarse side of a hand grater.

Add the zucchini, turn up the heat to medium and stir well. Cover the pan, lower the heat and cook for 4 minutes or so, until the zucchini are just tender.

Uncover, add the white miso and stir until well blended (or sprinkle the sea salt and stir).

Remove from the heat and serve warm.

Serves 3-4.

I have already prepared this dish several times and I see myself doing it often this summer. 

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¹ The book's page on the publisher's website
² Review on Kirkus Reviews
³ From Palmer Creek Farm's Instagram feed: photo of the white miso, made with rice koji and white beans. To learn more about koji, miso, and what Richard Wagner makes, you can read the article I wrote for the North Coast Journal, which peeks from under the containers of miso in the photo.

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Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post

verdure miste al timo

or launch the verdure miste al timo [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems]

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This is my contribution to the current selection of our Cook the Books hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen. (You can find the guidelines for participating in the event on this page.)

The roundup of the event.

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FTC disclosure: I have received the table linen free of charge from the manufacturer (la FABBRICA del LINO). I have not and will not receive any monetary compensation for presenting it on my blog. The experience shared and the opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.

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zucchini, eggplant, carrot, escarole, thyme, white miso

Comments

[DebinHawaii]

Thyme is one of my favorite herbs too. Your veggies look so fresh and good! Thanks for joining in!

[Wendy Klik]

I love nothing more than going to a Farmer's Market and enjoying the bounty when I get home. This was perfect with the book as Tabitha and Julia spent so much time together going to the Farmer's Market.

[Claudia]

I've been using a lot of thyme lately it seems, whole sprigs make it easier. Right now I'm experimenting with the Electroculture gardening trend, recommended by my brother-in-law who swears by it.

[Simona Carini]

Thank you, Deb :)

Thank you, Wendy :)

I have not heard about electroculture gardening, Claudia: thank you for telling me about it. Good luck with your experiments :)

[Amy's Cooking Adventures]

Lovely! Perfect for summer!

[Simona Carini]

Thank you, Amy. Indeed! And it lends itself to variations, like using spinach instead of escarole :)